PRESS RELEASE

30 June 2022

Public thematic report

WHICH DEVELOPMENT FOR MAYOTTE?

Ten years after the Department of Mayotte was created, and while the Government has

made one plan after another in its favour, the situation of Mayotte remains atypical within

the Republic. In sixty years, the archipelago has seen its population multiplied by 12 and it

now has the highest population density in overseas France, due to both very dynamic

endogenous growth and high illegal immigration. At the same time, the period following

departmenthood has seen, despite real progress in the standard of living of its inhabitants,

a sharp deterioration in security and quality of life conditions (transport, water,

environment, housing). Crime has reached such a level that security has become the primary

concern of inhabitants. In terms of education, it is also difficult to catch up, as half the

population does not speak French. In the report published today, the financial courts (Court

of Accounts and the Mayotte Regional Chamber of Accounts) stress that the services of the

central Government and the Department of Mayotte do not manage to provide the

solutions expected by the people of Mayotte on social, economic, and societal levels. In

order to contribute to a strategic reflection on the sustainable development of Mayotte, the

Court is making some recommendations aimed at consolidating the action of the public

authorities and strengthening the fight against illegal immigration.

Faced with the challenges of territorial development, local institutions are struggling to

consolidate their actions

If local institutions are struggling to establish their development actions, it is mainly because

the central Government services in Mayotte report difficulties in hiring administrative staff

who, moreover, do not stay on the job long enough to ensure the continuity of their actions. In

addition, the prefecture does not have the means and organisation to perform its role as a

manager and coordinator of central Government action, because, apart from recruiting

difficulties, the context of recurring emergencies prevents the prefectural service from taking

action over time and developing or managing projects that meet the local challenges. For its

part, the department must strengthen its human resources, management control, and IT

systems functions in order to have a management base that guarantees the proper

implementation of policies formalized by contract. In previous reports, the Mayotte Regional

Chamber of Accounts made recommendations on the monitoring of the public service

concession for the port of Longoni, on the land disputes and the addressing of properties, on

the central Government's steering of the departmenthood process, and on the multi-year

scheduling of the central Government's financial commitment and public facilities. However,

those recommendations were little or just partially followed by the department and the central

Government, which affected the monitoring of the development plans and the recovery of the

department.

Central Government development plans: ambitious commitments, uneven implementation

While the 2014 "Mayotte 2025" plan included a consensual roadmap, and the 2018 plan

included €1.3

billion in central Government spending, some of the measures that were quickly

initiated have been halted due to political or prefect changes. For example, monitoring of the

"Mayotte 2025" plan was discontinued after one year, and for the 2018 plan there is no

updated monitoring document or data on its implementation, apart from a table filled in by the

prefecture at the Court's request. Therefore, although the commitments made by the central

Government are substantial, it remains difficult to assess the amount of the additional effort

made. Public action in Mayotte unfolds in fits and starts, without the linkage between one plan

and the next one being established. This is because neither the prefecture of Mayotte nor the

Directorate General for Overseas France has teams dedicated to monitoring these plans and,

under these conditions the dispersed, centralised services of the central Government are not

encouraged to produce monitoring documents or to document their actions.

The central Government's responses have not provided all the solutions expected

In the 2018 Plan for the Future of Mayotte, the majority of the state's responses to the

demands of the people of Mayotte focused on law and order. However, crime statistics show

that the situation continues to deteriorate in this area. In addition, responses to social problems

remain inadequate: the health care supply remains below national standards, housing

construction remains far below needs (39% of housing is insecure) and there are still difficulties

in accommodating children in schools (221 schools are full). The spatial planning policy also

reveals significant limitations. Only resolute central Government action, given the necessary

technical and financial resources and steered with constancy, can bridge the gap with mainland

French standards. Without calling departmenthood or decentralization into question, the

central Government must strengthen its capability to lead the development of the territory, in

a governance combining the department and the other communities. The central Government

must also assume its authority when necessary, which it will do all the better if its own

commitments have been met.

Read the report

PRESS CONTACTS:

Emmanuel Kessler

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Director of Communications

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T

+33 (0)1 42 98 55 62

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+33 (0)6 62 48 07 81

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emmanuel.kessler@ccomptes.fr

Julie Poissier

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Head of Press Relations

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T

01 42 98 97 43

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06 87 36 52 21

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julie.poissier@ccomptes.fr

@Courdescomptes

ccomptes

Court of Accounts

Court of Accounts